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Norman gives his third and last talk on the Sandokai to the 2013 Loon Lake Sesshin. This is the fourth and final talk of the Sesshin.
Sandokai 3 – Talk 4 Loon Lake Sesshin 2013
By Zoketsu Norman Fischer | Nov 14, 2013
Transcribed and edited by Barbara Byrum and Cynthia Schrager
In Soto Zen, the teaching of Sandokai became fairly elaborate. By the time of Dogen in the 13th century, it had become codified, but for Dogen, it all came down to one simple but very important point: practice and enlightenment are the same thing. You are not practicing for enlightenment. Practice is enlightenment. Enlightenment is practice. Path and goal are simultaneously the same. Every moment of practice is a moment of Buddha. There is nowhere to go, because you are already there. Life is a journey home. We start off at home, and then we feel compelled to leave home, so that we can return home. But, actually, we have been home the whole time. We practice not to make this be so, but because it is so. For Dogen, practice-enlightenment is one word. Practice-enlightenment is devotion. It is gratitude. It is joy.
We left off yesterday with the wonderful lines in the poem about the four elements returning to their mother, and the whole process returning to the source, which means that everything is always returning. That is do: everything is in union. Everything is one. You already are one with everything. That is our actual condition from the start.
The next line of the poem says: "Noble and base are only manners of speaking." In other words, since we are one with everything, that oneness is our ground. Then, from that ground, we're going to necessarily construct an edifice of difference, which we will do with our perception and our language and our concepts. Noble and base are only manners of speaking. This idea of words or expressions or manners of speaking seems to be pretty important in Sandokai. We saw it already earlier, where Shitou says, "light in an expression [for distinguishing pure and defiled]" And "darkness is a word [for merging upper and lower]." This is also referring to words and expressions. Here it says "noble and base," but it stands for all our distinctions and judgments.
Judgments are a current, important topic of conversation in our world. A lot of people say, Oh, I am so judgmental. It's driving me crazy. My mother is judgmental. My spouse is judgmental and driving me crazy. Actually, I have never heard a judge say this. [Laughter] I know several judges, and they very seldom speak about being judgmental. But a lot of other people, who are not judges, feel that they themselves, or others that they know, are very judgmental. They think this is bad, and they want to get over it. Here Shitou is saying that all of our distinctions are judgments. Every difference is ultimately only a difference of words. It is only a way of speaking. This idea goes back to a deep thought in Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that everything is literally just a description, a designation, a concept.
Since everything is do, all san is just a manner of speaking, so it all doesn't really need to be so painful. Tree or house or cow are only manners of speaking. Noble and base, ugly and beautiful, are just manners of speaking. This doesn't mean that these things are unimportant. It just means that they are not real entities. They are just manners of speaking. When you know this, then your judgments and distinctions are not what we would call "judgmental." Because when you know distinctions as distinctions, this means that you haven't lost track of the essential unity that is the ground of all those distinctions. This means that you haven't lost track of love. When we say that we are judgmental, or someone else is judgmental, that is actually what we mean, right? They have lost track of love.
Right in light there is darkness, but don't confront it as darkness.
Right in darkness, there is light, but don't see it as light.
Light and dark are relative to one another like forward and backward steps.
Now we are back to our darkness and light metaphor, which is a metaphor, but it is also more than a metaphor. It is the physical reality of our universe. At the end of the poem, Shitou says, "those who study the mystery." We are the mystery of light and darkness. It's not poetic. It's not spiritual – as if spiritual were something else. It is just our actual life. Life, death, light, dark, space, time – reality. We don't know what reality is, and it will always remain hidden from us – in plain sight. As human beings, we always have to ask, What is real? The answer to that question is our life, which is our practice, which is our constantly asking that question.
Light is darkness, but don't act as if it is. Because we are in the light, we have to act with clarity and kindness in a world of light. If we think the world is dark, and we act in darkness, then we are mistaking a designated darkness, a word, a concept, for the real darkness, which isn't dark. Darkness is – as long as we are in the light – light.
The next line says the same thing, only in the reverse, to fill out the parallel lines, in the proper form of a Chinese poem. Darkness is light, but when everything is dark, act darkly. Don't bring up the light. At that time, it would be an exaggeration, an imposition. We could, maybe, make a good analogy to sesshin. When there is deep concentration and total disappearing in your sitting, let that be the case completely. Don't rush in and say, Oh, look! How still I am now! I'm not thinking at all! [Laughter] That's seeing light in the darkness, and immediately, the darkness is gone. When there is a wonderful stillness, when there's total letting go, enjoy it, because, of course, soon it is gone.
Each thing has its function.
Every mood, every state of mind, every emotion, every perception, every activity, is given to us for a reason in its time. Our practice is not to designate some as good or bad, some as enlightened, some as deluded, and, therefore, to strive to produce the ones that are good and eliminate all the others. Our practice is rather to embrace the function of each thing in its time.
So we are learning in our practice how to live, not how to meditate. How to live. How to move in and out of darkness and light, in harmony with things; going fast when it is time to go fast; going slow when it is time to go slow; being loud, being quiet; coming forward, stepping back, as the occasion calls for us to do.
This line, "Light and dark are relative to one another like forward and backward steps," is not a good translation, I think, and doesn't capture the point here. The real idea here is not like a forward step, stepping forward, or a backward step stepping backwards, but like the forward foot and the backward foot, when you are walking. When you are walking, there is one foot in front, and one foot behind.
So Shitou is comparing the dynamic interplay between san and do to the actual physical process of walking, which involves trusting and falling and constantly moving, which is a pretty good description of our life: trusting and falling and constantly moving. As you walk along, there is always a front foot and a back foot. One foot is the front foot, and one foot is the back foot. But which is which? Is this foot the one that is the front foot, or is it that foot which is the front foot? Well, it keeps changing. The back foot becomes the front foot; the front foot becomes the back foot. Both feet are the front foot and the back foot. At any given moment, one is in front, and the other is in back, but as soon as you notice that, immediately it is the opposite. This shifting is what we call walking. San and do work in our life just like this. San is do, and do is san. Time just goes on. At any given moment, san is do, and do is san.
It's astonishing, isn't it, that all human beings, whether they are from Borneo or Canada or New Zealand, all walk the same way, because, this is how we are made. Similarly, all this talk of san, do, kai might appear needlessly confusing and abstract, and, yet, we all live it, in exactly the same way, wherever we go, because that is the way we are. It is quite natural.
Probably some of you have heard me say this before, and actually at this point in time, some of you have heard everything that I have ever said before or will say. Thank you for continuing to listen politely. I am expecting any day now that people will take up knitting, and when I give a talk, people will be knitting, or sewing okesas, so that they won't be entirely wasting their time!
Anyway, what are the most difficult things in life? The absolute, most difficult things. Being born and dying. These are the most difficult things anybody can do. They must be so difficult; they must require enormous courage and strength and ability. It is certainly harder to be born and die than it is to run a marathon, or climb to the top of a mountain, or figure out the equation for the theory of relativity. It must be much more difficult to be born and to die. And yet, 100% of human beings can accomplish these really difficult things. Everybody here, myself included, has been successfully born. Congratulations to you and to your mothers! You have all been successfully born. Everybody here will successfully die. No one will say, You know what? I'm just not up for this! I don't think I can do it. It's too hard for me. Other people, yes, but I can't do it. We may say that, but we will do it anyway.And this is Sandokai. Coming from darkness to light, and from light to darkness, at once. This is how we are. It is truly amazing.
Phenomena exist like box and lid joining;
Principle accords like arrow points meeting.
Hearing the words, you should understand the source;
Don't make up standards on your own.
If you don't understand the path as it meets your eyes,
How can you know the way as you walk?
Progress is not a matter of far or near,
But if you are confused, mountains and rivers block the way.
I humbly say to those who study the mystery,
Don't waste time.
That's how the poem ends: "Phenomena exist like box and lid joining; principle accords like arrow points meeting." Again, these words might seem too confusing or too complicated. I think it means that san and do perfectly fit each other, just like a cover fits a box, or like two arrows, shot into the air simultaneously from two different places, somehow miraculously meet exactly in midair and fall to earth. This seems unlikely, almost impossible, and yet, it would happen each and every time exactly perfectly. Just like walking and just like being born and dying. So complicated, so unlikely, and yet, it works every time.
It continues, "Don't make up standards on your own." You hear that and you think, Oh, I should give up my own standards and take somebody else's standards, maybe like Buddhist standards, and let go of my own ideas. I don't think it means that. All ideas, all virtues, all teachings, are standards, and all standards end up being tyrannical. We complain about various hierarchs and bosses and oppressive regimes, but the biggest tyrant of all is oneself and one's fixed ideas and habits, whether they are Buddhist or not. When you understand the source, it means that you have let go of all standards, especially your own. Then your teacher is life, and everyone you face, and your path is kindness.
As Shitou says, You should understand this and embrace it. Then you will always know what to do and where to go, even when you don't. You have a path and a way of life. The rest is just the details. Your whole life, through you, will always be somewhere, and you will always be doing something. How could that not be the case?
Progress is not a matter of far or near. There is nowhere to get to; you never have to be confused; and you never have to be worried. Everything is always walking and going in the right direction. But if you start to worry and start to second guess yourself, then, yes, as the poem says, it can really feel that mountains and rivers are blocking your way. Whichever way you turn, you are blocked by a steep mountain and a rushing river. And that happens to us, because we can't help it. We do worry, and we do second guess ourselves.
When we find ourselves blocked by a big mountain or a rushing river, let the dizzying heights and bracing, rushing water wash over you. It's okay. Just keep on going with your practice, and that will pass, and then you will be alright.
Finally, in the poem, Shitou says, and I will say it to you, I do deeply respect you noble dharma brothers and sisters for taking up this impossible mystery of living and dying. You are here, because you have done that. For some reason, you have not been content – any one of you – to continue to go on, mindlessly meandering around in circles in the tragic world. You have decided to take up the true burden of being a human being. I really do see that, and I really do appreciate it and respect it. Each one of you is literally awesome.
Since, as Shitou says, that is the case, there is only one thing to say in the end: "Don't waste time." Don't waste time. Keep on with your practice. Never, never, ever give up. Anyway, it's impossible to give up, isn't it, because you have all come too far already by now. I do appreciate your practice, and all that you do. It is a blessing to practice together.
With any luck, we can sit sesshin again together some day, possibly. We don't know, but maybe. I hope so. If not, it doesn't matter. The practice goes on. The journey continues.
Thank you very much.


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I worked at a lot of the TV studios in the 80s and I have a tough time deciding who had the worst system, practices and style. Or non-style.FILMATION?
Filmation cartoons were the first cartoons to ever make me feel ill. When I first saw one on TV in the mid 60s I heaved up a big old fried bologna and bacon sandwich. It was shocking. I was a complete cartoon nerd and just took it for granted that cartoons were supposed to be silly, creative and fun - and nice to look at. I couldn't figure out why anyone would make cartoons that didn't look or sound like cartoons - and I still can't. Filmation cartoons actually seemed to go out of their way to be bland and not fun, which, as a kid just seemed unbelievable to me.
Ironically, my first job at an "entertainment studio" came a decade and a half later at the dreaded Filmation. They hadn't changed their style or approach in all that time. They believed in in boredom. They went on throughout their 30 or so year life span barely changing their monotonous bland ways.
Working there, I finally saw why and how. You literally were not allowed to draw anything unless you were in the model department. In layout, animation and assistant animation you had to trace the model sheets. Or xerox them off the model sheets. Each character had maybe 3 pre-designed poses and if the show went on for 10 years, you'd have 130 half hours of the same 3 drawings of each character.
The style of Filmation character designs were the blandest of all time. They were neither cartoony nor "realistic". They were merely - vacant. Expressionless. Without statement or style.
There actually was a short span of time where a few people tried to do something a little different, but it didn't work because the whole system was set up to fail.
Remind me to talk about what Eddie coined as "The Golden Age Of Filmation in a post sometime."
These are shows I actually worked on so I can tell you first hand that they were absolutely no fun and not the least bit creative. You just had to memorize a stack of rules and do everything exactly the same way every time.
Of course there are those who will say it's all about the writing. Mainly it's the writers who say that.
Next...Hanna Barbera


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The rear end rescue blog - an anal gland surgery diary
Like many other cavaliers, Molly and Éowyn have had many infections in their anal glands. We have been to all vet checks as recommended (at least once a year) where the anal glands also were checked and expressed. The first couple of years no serious problems, but now the infection comes back every 8-10 months; normally without any warning beforehand. We considered surgery for a long time, but it was difficult to find any written experience about it. Therefore I am writing this blog diary from a couple of days before their surgery, and until they have recovered. Hopefully you will find it useful, and please feel free to comment with your experiences, too. Surgery is not something you should do without considering it carefully, and we have had many thoughts and discussions about it beforehand. There are good and bad experiences with surgery, and this is just one point of view.


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I was so eager to get posts up last night after sitting out for the weekend that I blew my wad with all of them for you to find when you got here this morning. I know bloggers are really supposed to publish posts throughout the day to encourage readers to return over and over, but I was too excited to get to it today. Under this post, be sure to check out:
NFL Week 3 Wrap
New CFB Top 25 Ballot
CFB Saturday Wrap
On to today's Quickie:
TOP STORY: Super. Home.
The Saints' return to the Superdome is so much more important than everything BUT the actual football.
(It's also the biggest story of the sports day, and not just because it'll be getting blanket coverage.)
Sure, both the
run-n-gun "run-n-run" Falcons and the heart-warming host Saints are 2-0.
But it's all about the image of the Superdome hosting a football game, rather than the scene of a year ago: Devastation.
The topic will be beaten to death over the next 24 hours, but I point back to my rally cry from early last season, for at least one night:
"We're All Saints Fans."
NFL Week 3 Wrap: Full NFL W3 wrap below, but here are a handful of half-baked observations worthy of a one-take look at the biggest NFL storylines of the day:
(1) If the Jags' offense was half as good as its D,
(2) The Bengals are the new team to beat in the AFC; the Steelers won't be making it back to the playoffs.
(3) I wasn't wrong last week to call the Pats one of the NFL's least impressive 2-0 teams; losing at home to
(4) Rex Grossman's first-ever 4th-quarter TD to lead the Bears over the Vikings was more impressive (and important) than his 4 TDs in Week 2.
(5) Don't overweight Brett Favre's performance in getting the Packers' first W of '06: The Lions are a top contender for the NFL's worst team.
(6) Clinton Portis returns to reasonable strength (16 carries, 82 yards 2 TDs) and Mark Brunell is able to complete 22 passes in a row: Coincidence? I think not.
(7) Instead of blaming the crowd noise, the Giants should think about blaming their porous D. (Nice rally to make it interesting, though.)
(8) The most intriguing NFL game of 2007 just might be in the preseason, when the Seahawks and Pats meet in the NFL's first-ever game in
(9) Realistic fantasy lineup I wish I had:
QB: Matt Hasselbeck (5 TDs)
RB: Brian Westbrook (2 TDs, 117 yds)
RB: Ladell Betts (TD, 124 yds)
WR: Javon Walker (2 TDs, 130 yds)
WR: TJ Houshmandzadeh (2 TDs, 94 yds)
Flex: Keyshawn Johnson (1 TD rec, 1 TD rush)
K: John Kasay (FGs: 51, 50, 49, 46)
D: Vikings (2 INTs, including 1 for TD)
CFB Hangover: I'm still recovering from Notre Dame's comeback win at
Meanwhile, congrats to
MLB Wrap: Hoffman Is Saves King! It's actually hard to figure out what's more impressive:
Trevor Hoffman setting the career saves record (479 – enough to be a Hall of Fame lock?)...
...Or Hoffman, at 38 years old, leading the NL in saves THIS season (43) and positioning his Padres to make the playoffs -- and to make himself the league's Cy Young winner.
Tigers Clinch Playoffs! Breathe easy, Tigers fans. No matter what happens the rest of the regular season, your team has clinched a spot in the
The achievement represents the most impressive worst-to-first turnaround (albeit over three years) since the Braves went from worst to first in one year ('90 to '91).
Given where the Tigers were three years ago -- and how ultra-competitive the AL Central was supposed to be, between the defending champ White Sox, the shoulda-coulda-woulda Indians and the perennially competitive Twins 0 – it's particularly incredible.
Playoff Races: Dodgers win, but only keep pace. Padres' win keeps LAD .5 GB in NL West; Phillies' win keeps LAD .5 GB for Wild Card.
US Chokes on Ryder Cup: Who's the bigger loser -- (a) the
And a huge thanks to everyone who participated in the CFB and NFL Comment-frenzy this weekend. Terrific work. It's like you don't need me at all! (Wait, that CAN'T be good for business...)


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William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757, to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God "put his head to the window"; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. Although his parents tried to discourage him from "lying," they did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school. He learned to read and write at home. At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake began writing poetry. When he turned fourteen, he apprenticed with an engraver because art school proved too costly. One of Blake's assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles from which he would draw inspiration throughout his career. After his seven-year term ended, he studied briefly at the Royal Academy.
In 1782, he married an illiterate woman named Catherine Boucher. Blake taught her to read and to write, and also instructed her in draftsmanship. Later, she helped him print the illuminated poetry for which he is remembered today; the couple had no children. In 1784 he set up a printshop with a friend and former fellow apprentice, James Parker, but this venture failed after several years. For the remainder of his life, Blake made a meager living as an engraver and illustrator for books and magazines. In addition to his wife, Blake also began training his younger brother Robert in drawing, painting, and engraving. Robert fell ill during the winter of 1787 and succumbed, probably to consumption. As Robert died, Blake saw his brother's spirit rise up through the ceiling, "clapping its hands for joy." He believed that Robert's spirit continued to visit him and later claimed that in a dream Robert taught him the printing method that he used in Songs of Innocence and other "illuminated" works.
Blake's first printed work, Poetical Sketches (1783), is a collection of apprentice verse, mostly imitating classical models. The poems protest against war, tyranny, and King George III's treatment of the American colonies. He published his most popular collection, Songs of Innocence, in 1789 and followed it, in 1794, with Songs of Experience. Some readers interpret Songs of Innocence in a straightforward fashion, considering it primarily a children's book, but others have found hints at parody or critique in its seemingly naive and simple lyrics. Both books of Songs were printed in an illustrated format reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts. The text and illustrations were printed from copper plates, and each picture was finished by hand in watercolors.
Blake was a nonconformist who associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day, such as Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft. In defiance of 18th-century neoclassical conventions, he privileged imagination over reason in the creation of both his poetry and images, asserting that ideal forms should be constructed not from observations of nature but from inner visions. He declared in one poem, "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's." Works such as "The French Revolution" (1791), "America, a Prophecy" (1793), "Visions of the Daughters of Albion" (1793), and "Europe, a Prophecy" (1794) express his opposition to the English monarchy, and to 18th-century political and social tyranny in general. Theological tyranny is the subject of The Book of Urizen (1794). In the prose work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93), he satirized oppressive authority in church and state, as well as the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish philosopher whose ideas once attracted his interest.
In 1800 Blake moved to the seacoast town of Felpham, where he lived and worked until 1803 under the patronage of William Hayley. He taught himself Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Italian, so that he could read classical works in their original language. In Felpham he experienced profound spiritual insights that prepared him for his mature work, the great visionary epics written and etched between about 1804 and 1820. Milton (1804-08), Vala, or The Four Zoas (1797; rewritten after 1800), and Jerusalem (1804-20) have neither traditional plot, characters, rhyme, nor meter. They envision a new and higher kind of innocence, the human spirit triumphant over reason.
Blake believed that his poetry could be read and understood by common people, but he was determined not to sacrifice his vision in order to become popular. In 1808 he exhibited some of his watercolors at the Royal Academy, and in May of 1809 he exhibited his works at his brother James's house. Some of those who saw the exhibit praised Blake's artistry, but others thought the paintings "hideous" and more than a few called him insane. Blake's poetry was not well known by the general public, but he was mentioned in A Biographical Dictionary of the Living Authors of Great Britain and Ireland, published in 1816. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who had been lent a copy of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, considered Blake a "man of Genius," and Wordsworth made his own copies of several songs. Charles Lamb sent a copy of "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence to James Montgomery for his Chimney-Sweeper's Friend, and Climbing Boys' Album (1824), and Robert Southey (who, like Wordsworth, considered Blake insane) attended Blake's exhibition and included the "Mad Song" from Poetical Sketches in his miscellany, The Doctor (1834-1837).
Blake's final years, spent in great poverty, were cheered by the admiring friendship of a group of younger artists who called themselves "the Ancients." In 1818 he met John Linnell, a young artist who helped him financially and also helped to create new interest in his work. It was Linnell who, in 1825, commissioned him to design illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy, the cycle of drawings that Blake worked on until his death in 1827.


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Communities, neighborhoods and modern conveniences are just a few of the reasons homebuyers choose new homes. But before deciding on your new dream house, make sure to do your homework and find the right builder for your needs and budget.
Look for an experienced builder with a reputation for quality workmanship and customer satisfaction. A great way to find a builder is to ask your real estate agent for a recommendation. Your agent can also guide you through tours of homes in new subdivisions, and help you make notes about your favorite houses and who built them. Once you've made a list, try contacting homeowners who previously worked with the builder and find out how satisfied they are with their homes.
Remember, too, that the model homes builders use to showcase their work may differ from other homes in the same development. For this reason, speak with the builder early on so you can find out exactly what options you'll have for appliances, cabinets, trim work, landscaping, paint colors, etc. Your builder will want you to enjoy your new home, so don't be afraid to ask about adding personal touches to get exactly what you want.
Try to find a location that suits both your lifestyle and budget. While factors like access to work and shopping are important no matter where you live, bear in mind that even lots within the same development can have drastically different prices. For example, a lot overlooking the 18th hole of a championship golf course will likely cost more than an interior lot a few blocks away. It's also important to find out whether your location is subject to any restrictions, homeowner's covenants or special assessments such as sewer and road fees.
When it comes to negotiating a price for your new home, it's wise to have a real estate agent representing you. Though deals can sometimes be found at the beginning or end of a new development, it takes an experienced agent to help evaluate different prices and handle the negotiation. One area where you may have the most room to negotiate is for construction upgrades. For example, you might agree to pay the full asking price in exchange for a custom fireplace and higher quality kitchen cabinets.
Virtually all new homes come with warranties covering structural defects and major systems such as the plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical systems. Make sure to speak with the builder beforehand about exactly what is covered and for how long. Another good idea is having the house inspected by a professional before construction is complete. Even the best builders occasionally make mistakes, but an experienced inspector can help identify problems during construction when they're easier to fix. To find a new house inspector, ask your agent for a recommendation.


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"This number is strong, but I don't think the trend for the level of job creation has improved … and I don't think we're out of the woods here yet," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, which co-authors the monthly report with ADP. "We've been getting about 150,000 new jobs per month fairly consistently over the past few years, and I think job creation will be around that number for the next few months ahead."
According to the report, the construction sector added 39,000 jobs in December, which Zandi attributed to continued recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy. But Zandi said the industry's employment outlook is "very encouraging for the next several years," as he expects residential and commercial construction activity across the country to significantly improve.
Though Zandi said construction-related establishments are typically small, companies with less than 50 employees reported a modest payroll increase of 25,000 jobs in December, compared to 87,000 jobs added at large corporations and 102,000 jobs created at midsized businesses.
"Small businesses have been struggling all along during the recovery since it began and since job growth resumed, and part of the reason is construction activity is very important to small companies — and it has lagged, until recently," Zandi said. "With the burst of job growth in construction in the month of December, we should have seen better employment conditions on the small-business side. I don't know why it didn't show up, but I think we'll see gains for small businesses in the months ahead, if I'm right about construction continuing to pick up."
Zandi said the positive December employment data show fiscal uncertainty at the national level has not yet made any significant impact on employers' hiring decisions, though "I don't think the number signals that we're off and running … and we won't start to see stronger job growth on a consistent basis for some time, as there's more brinkmanship on uncertainty to come."
According to the report, the trade, transportation and utilities sector drove private-sector employment growth last month by adding 53,000 jobs, though the manufacturing sector slightly weighed down gains by shedding 11,000 jobs. ADP's November employment report was revised upward to 148,000 jobs, from the 118,000 jobs it originally reported.


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Mega Buzz: Castle's Daddy Issues, Fringe's Finale, and a Person of Interest Pickle
Every week, editors Adam Bryant and Natalie Abrams satisfy your need for TV scoop. Please send all questions to firstname.lastname@example.com or tweet them to @adam_bryant or @NatalieAbrams.
I can't wait to meet Rick's dad on Castle this February! Got any more intel? - Jeannie
ADAM: You may be waiting longer than you think for that meeting. Although creator Andrew W. Marlowe confirms that there will be some further exploration of Castle's father come February sweeps, he certainly isn't the focus of the episodes. "I would not characterize the two-parter as being about his dad," Marlowe says. "Hopefully we can find a great and elegant way to embrace Castle's father's mythology in a way that's going to be exciting."
I can't believe there are only three episodes of Fringe left! Got any scoop on how it all ends? - Marc
NATALIE: As the two "good" Observers, September/Donald and Michael, help Walter piece together his plan, we'll get an interesting look at the origins of the fedora-wearing baldies. It's a history slightly reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica. (Oh, and did we mention that Walter has a nude scene?)
What's going to happen on Person of Interest now that Reese is in the FBI's custody? -Evan
ADAM: While Reese likely has some tricks up his sleeve - after all, he is one of four men who could be the "man in a suit" - he'll most likely rely on the help of his teammates. Or so he might think. "Just because Reese is locked up... the numbers never stop coming," executive producer Jonathan Nolan says. As such, we'll be "watching Finch try to spin plates" as he goes undercover as a substitute teacher to protect the next person of interest. And Carter? She may not be much help either now that she's joined the FBI task force. "[Agent] Donnelly's well aware of Carter's history as an interrogator in Iraq," executive producer Greg Plageman says. "Now that he has Reese in custody, it's going to be very interesting to see how Carter's enlisted in playing both sides of the fence."
Totally freaking out over theOnce Upon a Timelogline that says Regina will kill someone in Storybrooke! What's going on? - Tina
NATALIE: Good news and bad news, starting with the latter. "We can tell you that Regina will be accused of killing one of Storybrooke's characters," executive producer Edward Kitsis confirms. But not so fast! "There's always more than meets the eye. What we shall see is what and how." As for the who, I'm concerned about the episode's title.
How will Tyler react to Klaus killing his friends and mother onThe Vampire Diaries? - Sarah
NATALIE: Not well. But don't expect him to go cry about it. "Tyler's not going to stand and take it," Michael Trevino tells us. "It's the realization that he had his one chance of attacking Klaus and that didn't work, which is disheartening, [but now] he has to go for broke and figure out a way to do it, whether it's gathering people to align with again or going at it by himself."
I can't believePiper Perabo is going to be onGo On! Can you tell me more about her character? - Jeff
ADAM: The Covert Affairsstar will play Simone, a former member of the grief counseling group who joined after her dance career was cut short. She returns after she's left at the altar, and Ryan doesn't like sharing the spotlight with her. When he tells the group to pick him or Simone, she offers to take him out to change his mind. Nothing like a couple of drinks and a game of truth-or-dare to win your enemy over!
I hate Sally Langston! How long will she be president onScandal? - Francesca
NATALIE: If Mellie has anything to say about it, not too long. In fact, the First Lady may employ illegal - and even treasonous - means to make sure the dragon lady doesn't stay in power. But this time around, you'll actually be rooting for Fitz's wife. Plus: Expect to get an answer to this soon.
I'm excited for Dallas to come back, but sad to see Larry Hagman go. What can you tell us about J.R. in the new season? - Jessica
ADAM: The early episodes don't make it immediately clear how J.R.'s exit will be handled. (Hagman filmed six episodes before his death; J.R.'s funeral is scheduled to air on March 11.) In the meantime, J.R. will be busy helping his son John Ross claim a bigger shareholder's stake in Ewing Energies - a plan that involves John Ross teaming up with Rebecca (er, Pamela) to make sure Christopher can't get an annulment. Sounds like a good start, but John Ross will have a big Stetson to fill.
I can't wait to find out what happened to Ivy since she lost the lead in Bombshell! Will she make it to Season 2 ofSmash? - Hannah
NATALIE: In short: yes. One of the many changes coming to the new season of the NBC musical drama is the sudden disappearance of Ivy's drug problems (which also means no more hallucinations - sad!) However, just because Ivy is on the straight and narrow doesn't mean everyone is. Look for another cast member to turn to drugs during a moment of despair early in the season.
I can't believe Sam is actually Neal's father! How will Neal handle that discovery when White Collar returns? - Chris
ADAM: How would you handle it? Neal is initially skeptical about whether his dad is really a good guy. His dad will try to win over Neal by explaining everything that went down back in the day, which means we get answers to all our burning questions right away. Unfortunately, the new intel will send Neal on a mission to get close to those who betrayed his father - much to Peter's chagrin.
I'm so excited that Charlotte's babies are coming onPrivate Practice. Can you share any scoop? - Katy
NATALIE: Remember that awesome scene between Jake and Amelia during last season's finale? When he pushed her back into a position that made the labor pains more bearable? Well, look for Amelia to pay it forward to Charlotte as she is going through her intense labor.
What can you tell me about the new season of Justified? - Will
ADAM: Even though Winona has left Raylan behind, he seems to be doing all right for himself. You'll see a lot more of bartender Lindsey, both behind the bar and between the sheets. But she's hiding a secret that could rock Raylan's world. Speaking of secrets, Boyd seems to be even less trusting of his partners than usual this season. That may have something to do with the secret stash of cash he's keeping from everyone - including Ava!
Natalie's Mega Rave: After a pretty "meh" fall, I'm very much looking forward to Fox's serial killer drama The Following. Kevin Bacon is great in his TV series debut and James Purefoy's character (and his followers) deliver a creepy tension that will have you climbing the walls. Happy New Year indeed!
Adam's Mini Rant: I tuned into Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve to see a tribute to the legendary broadcaster, not to watch a breathless Jenny McCarthy shill for Weight Watchers. Dick is definitely missed.
Crave scoop on your favorite TV shows? E-mail Adam and Natalie at firstname.lastname@example.com or drop us a line at Twitter.com/TVGuide
(Additional reporting by Robyn Ross and Kate Stanhope)
View original Mega Buzz: Castle's Daddy Issues, Fringe's Finale, and a Person of Interest Pickle at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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UPDATE 8/5/14: The federal government has returned to Greece five ancient coins that were seized from Dr. Weiss after his arrest in Jan 2012. They are among 23 coins Weiss was forced to forfeit during the investigations detailed below, according to ICE.
Caveat Emptor, the court-mandated essay written by Rhode Island coin dealer Arnold Peter Weiss, is a long-overdue call for collectors of ancient coins to begin following the law.
Weiss is the prominent Rhode Island hand surgeon and ancient coin dealer who was arrested on January 3rd at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City for felony possession of an ancient coin recently looted from Sicily. He has served as a board member of the American Numismatic Society, the founder of a Swiss coin dealership and a prominent donor to American universities. According to the criminal complaint, he was caught on tape telling a police informant that he knew the coins had been recently looted in Sicily: "There's no paperwork, I know this is a fresh coin, this was dug up a few years ago." In July, Weiss pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted criminal possession of ancient coins. It turned out the "looted" coins were clever forgeries.
As part of Weiss' plea bargain, he agreed to write an essay that "will raise needed awareness about unprovenanced coins and will promote responsible collecting among numismatists." That article has now been published in the American Numismatic Society Magazine. (See the complete article below.)
The situation recalls a scolded student being forced to write a half-hearted apology on the chalkboard. But Weiss' essay is worth reading for what it reveals about the trade in ancient coins.
Weiss opens with a candid admission: "I was very active in the ancient coin marketplace and paid little attention to foreign cultural property laws, as if they really did not matter within the U.S. Well, they do." Weiss is not alone — coin collectors have often displayed a surprising ignorance of the laws that govern their hobby, or open disdain for them. Weiss' arrest has become an object lesson for the field, and Weiss uses his essay to underscore the point:
"Until recently, the prevailing view among coin dealers and collectors in the US has been that such foreign laws do not affect the purchase of objects in the US….Whether one agrees or not with the various laws of Italy, Turkey or China, for example, this must take a secondary role in this debate. The US honors the laws of cultural patrimony of foreign nations where those laws are in place and enforced by the source country."
He is referring, of course, to the McClain Doctrine and the National Stolen Property Act, which makes it a crime to purchase or possess looted antiquities taken from a country with patrimony laws that are reasonably enforced. (See here and here for more on the law.)
Weiss goes on to expose the coin market's dirty secret: the hoards of ancient coins that regularly appear on the market today are almost certainly the product of looting.
"Dealers and collectors with any reasonable experience can tell that such a simultaneous offering just does not happen naturally, except after a recent hoard of coins has been found and dispersed into the marketplace….The purchase of coins that derive from hoards is likely to be illegal and detrimental to scholarship, and these might be reasons enough for the buyer to be aware."
This admission — both obvious and long-denied by collectors — is reminiscent of another remarkable whistle-blower moment: Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True's June 2000 speech before the Assoc. of Art Museum Directors, in which she told museum officials that it was time to accept the fact that most, if not all, undocumented antiquities were the product of looting.
But Weiss notes another reason for careful collecting: The prevalence of sophisticated forgeries on the market, like the ones he was trying to sell in New York City. Weiss notes such forgeries share something in common with looted coins: the lack of a clear collecting history.
They come with fantastic stories…From personal experience I can say that these forgeries are stunning and are being introduced into the coin market with fake provenance information…Forgery is often the domain of highly-organized criminal enterprises, most often based in the source countries themselves, but now occurring worldwide due to the spread of high-tech machinery.
Weiss concludes his essay with a call for "a different kind of collecting requiring a proactive rather than passive approach to provenance" and outlines six steps every collector of ancient coins should take:
1. Research the history. No excuse not to — the ANS has a complete set of auction catalogs dating back to the 18th Century.
2. Ask questions. Weiss notes coyly that "sometimes dealers or curators know more about the coins than might be published."
3. Beware the Old Swiss Collection and other bogus provenance. As Weiss notes, "the words 'collection of' for a coin that has never been previously published or documented ought to be a sign that further research is required."
4. Know the Law. Weiss notes the "complex" and "contradictory rules" on what is legal to acquire, but offers 1970 as an accepted cut-off date for when an object should have left its country of origin.
5. Trust your Gut. If a coin feels "wrong," don't buy it.
6. Avoid recent hoards. Look out for coins with gleaming smooth surfaces, come in multiples and offered by the dozen.
This is a decent checklist for all antiquities collectors to obey. But what is perhaps most remarkable is that in 2012 this needs to be explained to coin collectors. One is left to wonder whether the problem with the market today is really ignorance of the laws or merely a stubborn unwillingness to obey them.
Will Weiss' essay — published by the official organ of the US coin collecting community — mark a turning point? It should. Ute Wartenberg Kagan, the executive director of the American Numismatic Society, took the opportunity to announce the ANS's new collecting policy, which is more strict that the steps outlined by Weiss.
In a strongly worded editorial, she too calls for a new era of collecting — "a path of responsibility, careful research, and best practices to enhance numismatics and the responsible collecting and caring for of ancient coinage and history."
"Collecting ancient coins will be different," she assures her members, "but will not die out."
Ultimately, the success of Weiss' statement and the ANS's new policy at changing the culture of American coin collectors will be measured by the time. If criminal cases continue to reveal collectors buying unprovenanced coins like those Weiss warned against, we'll know that ignorance was never the problem with the market in ancient coins.
Archaeologist Paul Barford has written about Weiss' essay here, noting several things Weiss has omitted: details on his own case; the role of dealers like himself; the importance of precise find spots, not just hoards; the role of ethics that go above and beyond the letter of the law.
Coin collector lobbyist Peter Tompa has (finally) written about the Weiss case. He says he "doesn't have much to quibble with" about Weiss' advice, but notes that the statement was made under duress and questions whether the "archaeological lobby" might have edited it.
Ute Wartenberg has responded to Tompa on his blog, saying, "ANS staff and I edited the piece after it was submitted, but the people acknowledged in my editorial preface such as John Russell, who is a professor of Near Eastern Archaeology, kindly provided illustrations at my request. Their names can be found with the relevant photos. None of those acknowledged read Weiss' article or provided editorial comment." So much for that theory.
Ever the provocateur, Arthur Houghton (who describes himself as a friend of Peter Weiss) picks up Tompa's theory in the same thread and runs with it: "Who else may have intervened in the article's wording and who may have cleared it for publication…And did those or any other person in authority then coerce, by subtle suggestion or by direct demand, the Society to publish? Could we have a little transparency please?" Houghton goes on to tell Col. Bogdanos to "man up" and "come out of the shadows." "…Let us know exactly what your role was in creating, framing and clearing Peter Weiss' article? But could we have a little confession from you at an early moment?"
Tompa has the last word, saying he has confirmed with Wartenberg that "the articl [sic] had to be approved by Col. Bogdanos as part of the plea deal, but any changes to the article based on comments from the NY District Attorney's office or any sources the DA consulted, took place BEFORE the ANS accepted the article for publication and it was edited by ANS staff."
Our final thought: No one would dispute that Weiss' essay was "coerced" — it was a condition of the plea deal after he was caught breaking the rules he claims to promote. We are far more interested in Tompa's and Houghton's thoughts on the worthiness of those rules and the new ANS policy. Helpfully, Tompa has offered this link. For those wondering about Houghton's views (and actions) on the law, we offer this.
A few additional questions we'd welcome thoughts on: Are ancient coin collectors often ignorant of the law, as Wartenberg suggests? Or have they flouted it knowingly, perhaps because they think it's unfair? Have the ANS and other leaders in this area done enough to educate their members about the law and enforce a code of ethics in the field? And if Weiss hadn't written as a condition of a plea deal but instead was whispering to a trusted friend, what would he have said?


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I checked in with SCBWI a couple of weeks ago. It's my understanding that the remaining entries are in the hands of the publisher
The pandemic has delayed so many books, mine included, so it wouldn't surprise me if the book release date has been pushed back. I think that's more likely than a cancellation. You also never know what's going on with editors. A key person could have covid, a death in the family . . .
Hi all! I was able to have a publicist contact I know connect me with someone from Godwin Books. I asked the staffer if I can relay a message and was told to please let you all know that the authors of the selected stories will be notified by the end of the year. Hope this helps!
Hi. Have they announced who has been selected for the haunted short story writing publications? I have not received a rejection email or an acceptance email. Just curious.Mary Beth Broussard? I have not gotten a rejection email or an acceptance email. Just curious.Mary Beth Broussard
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It's not a mystery why so many young-adult best-sellers (and the lucrative movie franchises based on them) would take place in post-apocalyptic societies governed by remote authoritarian entities and rigidly divided into warring factions. The word dystopia comes from a Greek root that roughly translates as "bad place," and what place could be worse than high school? Adolescence is not for the faint of heart. The to-do list for the decade between ages 10 and 20 includes separating from your parents, finding your place among your peers at school, beginning to make decisions about your own future, and—oh yes—figuring out how to relate to the world, and yourself, as a suddenly and mystifyingly sexual being.
The strong link between YA and dystopia is no trendy post–Hunger Games phenomenon. Grim allegorical tales about dysfunctional futuristic societies have been staples in popular books for young people at least since Lois Lowry's The Giver series in the early '90s (a film adaptation of the first volume is set to come out this summer), if not as far back as William Golding's Lord of the Flies, published in 1954. But since the massive success of Suzanne Collins' trilogy about a bleak futuristic society that pits teenagers against one another in a televised gladiatorial fight to the death, young readers—along with the many not-so-young readers who are now consuming YA lit in mass quantities—can't seem to get enough of projecting themselves into the future. And that's despite the fact that the future, as presented both in the real-life media and in the entertainment we consume, looks to be fairly awful: a bare-knuckles struggle for survival in the ruins of a civilization laid waste by war and/or environmental disaster.
YA dystopias externalize the turmoil that's already taking place in adolescent minds, hearts, and bodies. The social, interpersonal, and biological phenomena that define teenage life—competition and jealousy, anxiety about exclusion and belonging, shifting alliances, first crushes, wet dreams—are codified and, in some way, dignified by their transmutation into fiction. The cutthroat race for high-school popularity becomes an annual televised fight to the death in Collins' Hunger Games series, which is, in one reading, the story of a girl who's voted the homecoming queen of the whole world, despite her protestations. In a scene repeated throughout the first book, the reluctant Katniss twirls gloomily in front of a mirror, modeling one in the endless succession of extravagant outfits her Capitol stylist has fashioned for her to wear to a Hunger Games event. For all her theatrical resistance to being dressed up like a doll, Katniss describes each outfit in loving detail—a touching demonstration of the ambivalence of teenage desire, which longs both to shine at the prom and to rise scornfully above it.
Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy is one of the few YA dystopias to be created by an author relatively close in age to the group she's writing for. (Roth was 22 when the first book came out in 2011.) In structure and theme (but not, unfortunately, in degree of enjoyability) the Divergent books are so similar to the Hunger Games series as to strain the bounds of writerly ethics. In post-apocalyptic Chicago, society has been divided into five factions, each with a strictly proscribed social and economic function (and a grammatically unparallel name). There's Amity, Erudite, Dauntless, Candor, and the home faction of our heroine Beatrice (as well as of many a high-school girl I have known, or been): Abnegation. Upon reaching the age of 16, each child must choose whether to stay with his or her faction or defect to another, in a public ritual halfway between the Hunger Games' "reaping ceremony" and a junior-high-school graduation: Parents attend, dressed up and beaming with pride, then have their lives ripped out from under them when their children effectively disappear forever from their lives.
Rather than the realpolitik of high-school popularity, Divergent (which has now been adapted into a film by Neil Burger) sets its allegorical sights on the equally complex and crucial matter of high-school clique affiliation. Whether it's the "greasers" vs. "socs" battle of S.E. Hinton's seminal novel The Outsiders or the multitiered and violently enforced pecking order at a suburban Austin, Texas, high school in Richard Linklater's 1993 film Dazed and Confused, stories set in the world of teens often revolve around moments of having to choose, publicly and painfully, who you are, to identify yourself with an established social category. This being high school, the selection of prefixed identities on offer is constrictively narrow and closely policed by powerful and malevolent forces. Any genuine self-discovery will reveal a flaw in the whole taxonomy, bringing down the system and enabling the realization that we're all a little bit Dauntless, a little bit Amity, a little bit rock 'n' roll—an internal drama that Divergent projects onto a grand historical scale.
The film's heroine, Beatrice Prior (played with an excess of acting firepower by the always-fascinating-to-watch Shailene Woodley), is a lifelong Abnegation who chooses at the last minute to become a Dauntless—basically, an Amish girl gone Goth. Beatrice, now known as "Tris," is separated from her family and put into training camp as part of the brutal Dauntless initiation process (an ordeal that includes, at one point, the odd spectacle of seeing Woodley get whaled on in the boxing ring by Miles Teller, who played her high-school sweetheart in last year's wonderful The Spectacular Now). Over the course of 143 long minutes, Tris evolves from a quivering pudding of self-deprecation into a superskilled warrior and athlete who becomes a leader of the resistance against the faction system. She especially excels at the drug-induced brain tests Dauntless candidates are required to pass (SATs, anyone?) in which her character, intelligence, and bravery are challenged in virtual scenarios enacting her deepest fears. Eventually, Tris' embrace of her unclassifiable "Divergent" identity breaks down the resistance of her tough-as-nails commander, Four (Theo James), who reveals his own status as a fellow Divergent and declares his love, but not before letting Tris trace her fingers over his full-back tattoo: the symbols of all the factions, side by side.
Divergent is not a good movie on the merits; it's formulaic, repetitive, nonsensically plotted, at least half an hour too long, and let's face it, the whole concept is pretty much the Hunger Games minus the originality and style. But as a glimpse into contemporary teenage culture, it's not without its fascinations. As a former 14-year-old girl and the future mother of one, I can see the draw of a fantasy that recasts the rigid categories of teen social hierarchy as mechanisms of fascist social control, then stages a life-affirming rebellion against the pitiless powers that be (represented, in this case, by an icily Erudite Kate Winslet). If Divergent had come out the year I started high school, I might have—well, maybe not overthrown the whole system, but at least not spent that semester making a fool of myself in pep squad.


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I was inspired to write my latest column for RH Reality Check because of a number of emails I've gotten over the years with various questions about the issue of the language we use to talk about pregnancy and it's impact on pro-choice politics.
From the column:
As a blogger and a doula, I think about this question of language a lot. What language to use when talking with people I'm supporting during their abortions? What about when supporting someone with a miscarriage? Should I use different language in one scenario over the other? How about when I write about these issues? If we call it a baby at only eight weeks, does that compromise our right to access abortion?
For me the answer is no. The reason that abortion is a decision best left to individuals who are pregnant is because it's a complicated ethical and personal choice that one can only make for themselves. While there may be a lot of science regarding fetal development, when hearts beat and nervous systems are developed, there is no right answer when it comes to when life begins. It's a question and a choice that every individual person has to grapple with for themselves. The same is true for the language of pregnancy and birth.
I do my best to mirror the language of the people I'm working with. If they call it a baby, I'll call it a baby. If they call it a pregnancy, or a fetus, or a itty-bitty bundle of joy, I'll do the same. Nothing about these language choices denotes anything about what choices should be available to pregnant people—it simply denotes how that individual person sees themselves and their pregnancy.
Read the full piece here.


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Kansas GOP senators to discuss committees
Top Republicans in the Kansas Senate plan to meet next week to discuss filling committee chairmanships.
The all-GOP Organization, Calendar and Rules Committee is expected to meet Monday. Under the Senate's rules, it designates committee chairmen and makes committee assignments.
The panel includes incoming Senate President Susan Wagle of Wichita, Vice President Jeff King of Independence and Majority Leader Terry Bruce of Hutchinson. It has six other members selected by their fellow Republicans.
The Senate is likely to see widespread turnover in committee chairmanships because GOP conservatives ousted eight moderate incumbents during August primaries and broke the moderates' hold over the chamber.
Highly visible chairmanships such as Education, Judiciary and Federal and State Affairs were held by moderates who lost.


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Sports update: Trial will weigh if Donald Sterling was properly ousted
LOS ANGELES — A trial will be held next month to determine whether Donald Sterling, who opposes his estranged wife's planned sale of the Los Angeles Clippers, was properly removed as an administrator for the family trust that owns the team.
An attorney for Shelly Sterling went to probate court Wednesday to request a trial to confirm that as sole trustee she can proceed with the $2 billion sale to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
The development is the latest in a legal tug-of-war that has ensued following the NBA's decision to ban Sterling for life after racist remarks he made emerged in a recording in April. Sterling is fighting the decision and suing the league for $1 billion.
The league has contended that Sterling's comments were bad for business and damaged both the Clippers and the NBA.
Donald Sterling's lawyer, Bobby Samini, left the courthouse without comment after a clerk announced the trial schedule. Neither Sterling was present.
"I just want to resolve this as quickly as possible," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told The Associated Press in Miami on Wednesday, when he appeared at an NBA Cares event.
The crux of the case will center on the question of whether the 80-year-old Sterling is mentally competent to be a co-trustee of The Sterling Family Trust, which gives him the authority to determine the team's future. According to the trust's terms, he can be ruled "mentally incapacitated" after being evaluated by two doctors, O'Donnell said.
According to court documents, three doctors examined Donald Sterling in May and concluded that he suffers from "mild cognitive impairment consistent with early Alzheimer's Disease" or some other forms of brain disease.
One doctor, James E. Spar, who is affiliated with the division of geriatric psychiatry at UCLA, said he believes "Mr. Sterling is at risk of making potentially serious errors of judgment, impulse control and recall in the management of his finances and his trust."
"In my opinion he is substantially unable to manage his finances and resist fraud and undue influence, and is no longer competent to act as trustee of his trust," Spar concluded.
Dr. Stephen L. Read, who also specializes in geriatric and forensic psychiatry in Los Angeles, said that X-ray and CT scans of Sterling's brain conducted May 16 showed "mild atrophy" of brain tissue.
Read said personal opinion and the statements of other doctors provide "solid grounds for the determination that Mr. Donald T. Sterling lacks the capacity to function as trustee of the Sterling family estate."
A third doctor, Meril S. Platzer, said during his examination Sterling was unable to spell the word "world" backward. He was unaware of the season, couldn't recall two objects after three minutes and had difficulty initially drawing a clock.
"The score is below normal for his age and advanced education," Platzer said.
She concluded that Sterling is unable to reasonably carry out the duties as lead trustee because of impaired information processing and short-term memory, among other problems.
Sterling had voluntarily gone to the doctors at the request of his wife, according to a person with knowledge of the proceedings who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly.
Donald Sterling's attorney Maxwell Blecher contested the doctors' findings in remarks Tuesday to The Associated Press.


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Bamboo Cotton Jersey, Ash Rose – 1/2 meter
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A number of studies have spotted a worrisome trend: although the number of scientific journals and articles published is increasing each year, the rate of papers being retracted as invalid is increasing even faster. Some of these are being retracted due to obvious ethical lapses—fraudulent data or plagiarism—but some past studies have suggested errors and technical problems were the cause of the majority of problems.
A new analysis, released by PNAS, shows this rosy picture probably isn't true. Researchers like to portray their retractions as being the result of errors, but a lot of these same papers turn out to be fraudulent when fully investigated. If there's any good news here, it's that a limited number of labs (38, to be exact) are responsible for a third of the fraudulent papers that end up being retracted.
The new paper focuses on the fact that problems with a paper may crop up after—sometimes years after—it's first published. If these problems are minor, authors can issue clarifications or corrections (typically called errata or corrigenda). But if they raise questions about the validity of the work in general, the journal will sometimes retract the paper entirely. This is the equivalent of saying the paper never existed, and shouldn't be considered part of the peer-reviewed literature. To notify the scientific community of this action, the journals will typically mark the online versions of the original publication, and separately publish a short retraction notice.
The authors of the new paper took advantage of this by searching for every retraction notification that has appeared in the NIH's PubMed database. They found just over 2,000 of them as of May of this year, then categorized them according to the reason for the retraction, based on the contents of the announcement: plagiarism, duplicated work, errors, and fraud.
A bumper crop of fraud
Honest errors occur in research all the time, and I've seen papers retracted because of software errors or after a commercial product didn't live up to its promised capabilities. And past studies (such as this one) have suggested these errors account for the majority of retractions. But the authors of the new study find that this isn't the case. Many retractions (over 15 percent by one measure) claim to be because of errors, but ultimately turn out to be because of fraud. The authors discovered this by checking the author list against reports prepared by the Office of Research Integrity, which polices research fraud.
This may be because the retractions come before investigations are complete, or because researchers get to write their own retraction notices. But whatever the cause, the gap between retractions and reality can be hilariously large. One paper ostensibly retracted because of "flaws in methodological execution and data analysis" turned out to have "many instances of data fabrication and falsification." Another that was pulled because one image "was not correct" was found, after investigation, to be the result an author knowingly selecting an experiment that gave the answer he wanted.
With these retractions reevaluated, the authors find that cases of fraud account for over 43 percent of all retractions. Duplicate publications and plagiarism account for another 24 (the Retraction Watch blog found a awkward example of the former just today). Those numbers drop honest errors down to the point where they only account for just over 20 percent of the total retractions. Fraud is a bigger problem than we'd thought.
And it's getting bigger. The authors find that, since 1975, the rate of retracted articles as a percent of total publications has increased nearly tenfold. Duplicate publications and plagiarism, which didn't use to be a significant problem, have boomed since 2005. And while retractions due to errors have increased, those due to fraud have increased much faster.
Patterns of deceit
When it comes to fraud, the traditional research powers are leading the way. The US has the largest number of cases, followed by Germany and Japan. But things like plagiarism and duplicating publications are quite different, with China being a major player, and India having a large presence. These sorts of copying problems are rare in high-profile journals like Nature and Science. Instead, there was a strong correlation between the incidence of fraud and the prominence of the journal, as measured by its impact factor.
The authors suggest that the increasing levels of fraud may come from "the incentive system of science, which is based on a winner-takes-all economics that confers disproportionate rewards to winners in the form of grants, jobs, and prizes at a time of research funding scarcity." That could certainly explain its prevalence in the US, where competition for grant money has become increasingly fierce in a way that roughly parallels the rising rates of fraud.
If there's good news in the data, it's that fraud may be increasing, but it might not be as widespread as the numbers would appear to suggest. A total of 38 labs, each of which had at least five retractions, accounted for a hefty 34 percent of the total frauds evaluated by the authors.
One interesting result the study also turns up is that retractions often do their jobs: other papers stop citing the original work shortly after the retraction notice is printed. But this doesn't always happen. In the case of one 2005 article, the HTML and PDF versions available online are clearly marked with retraction notices, but they found it continues to get cited. Even though the paper contained what appears to be inaccurate data about a molecule's function, it remains the first description of a molecule that turned out to be important.
"This practice," the authors conclude, "suggests that under certain circumstances, scientists continue to find utility in retracted articles."
PNAS, 2012. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1212247109 (About DOIs).


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In countries where weather is a big factor in the everyday life, we have seen an important surge in the popularity of solariums in the past few years. In Quebec province, for example, people definitely have a few neighbors or friends that have a solarium. Are you considering building one at the moment? Here are a few questions that you should ask yourself before going too far in your thinking.
What do you need your solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE for?
This is a very simple question, but people sometimes go for the most expensive options before even knowing if it's going to be useful for them. Will you need to use your solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE during the winter or are you looking for a 3 seasons' room? In the first case, you would need a heated installation. solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE. The isolation would be superior to a regular solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE, the glass used would be high performing in energy efficiency standards (to provide more "natural" heating) and you'll probably want to heat the floor with an electric system so your feet aren't cold at all times. These could actually double the construction price of your solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE, so you might want to simply stay out of that room during winter!
Another possibility would be to forget about glass solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NEs and aim at verandas. They might be darker since the roof will be opaque, but the price of building this kind of verandas will definitely be lower.
The high temperature problem during summer
Glass windows allow the sun to heat your solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE during winter... but during summer as well! During the afternoon, high temperatures could definitely become a troublesome issue if you do not plan ahead. If you plan to be using this room at that period, you'll probably go for tinted glass. You might also want to install windows so that ventilation can be used as a weapon to fight overheating.
Go for luxury or not?
If you have a rather high budget, a few items can definitely enhance your solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE. A spa, for example, is indicated so that you can laugh at winter's face (and at your neighbors!) at all times. However, if you decide to invest in a 4 seasons' solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE AND a spa, you might want to work a few extra hours: the bill could rise pretty easily.
One thing you should also do would definitely be to work with a specialist. Professional advice on materials, ventilation and heating issues will help you to land the perfect solarium in Cedar Bluffs, NE to enjoy summertime.